An exhibition at GallerySKE shows utilitarian objects made by artists for their studios and homes.

A month ago, when Delhi-based artist Somu Desai found a baby pram in the parking lot of his building, left by his neighbour for a scrap collector, he decided to take it away. As the building watchman laughed, Desai lugged the pram home. It would soon be used to carry Desai’s art material from his material room to his working area 35 ft away. The artist reinvented the pram by using loads of imagination and an old pair of denim jeans to hold brushes, paint tubes and cans.

Desai’s workstation is a part of the exhibition “Make/Do” at GallerySKE, which is displaying utilitarian objects made by artists for their studios and homes. About his work, Workstation Pram, Desai says, “I have a tendency to convert abandoned things into aesthetic objects. I think most artists have this tendency. Picasso could convert anything into a work of art, even a fish bone.” There are seven artists in the show apart from the Raqs Media Collective, a Delhi-based artist and curator group.

Architect and artist Martand Khosla, inspired by the idea of fakirs lying on beds of nails without displaying any emotion or pain, designed a chair using carpentry nails two years ago. The wooden chair has been made by hammering nails into it and, when a viewer sits on it, with much trepidation, the chair turns out to be very comfortable. “The idea of the chair stems from the idea of the Oriental, through which India has often been looked at,” says Khosla.

Niharika Rajput’s The Closing Carcass, on the other hand, is inspired by the Drosera, commonly known as the sundew plant. Made last year, the work comprises wire mesh lamps that resemble green organic plants and hang from the ceiling of the gallery. “I was born in Arunachal Pradesh and lived in the surrounding states for short spans that triggered my love for the elaborate and iridescent nature of flora and fauna,” she says, adding, “My work can be summed up as an organic rebellion against the destructive forces of the urban grid. In this case, the carnivorous plants best symbolise the spirit of revolution.”